Day Three began with the greenhouse. The rooftop was vacant since the watchtower’s construction, and although the greenhouse plan had been pending since Tier 2, more urgent matters always took precedence.

Now, with Tier 3 in full swing, it was finally time. The system’s framework rose in sections across the east side of the rooftop, featuring transparent panels that let light in and protect against weather.

Growing beds were arranged in rows, with an irrigation system connected to the water collection network.

It hadn’t produced anything yet. Seeds require time, and the timeline didn’t allow for it. However, the infrastructure was in place, and Dr. Kang had a seed list she had been updating since the pharmacy run. Within two weeks, the greenhouse would start contributing to the food supply, significantly easing the SP drain on the Survival Store.

Two weeks felt like a long time considering the southeast situation.

He built it regardless, because the building had to be prepared for whatever was coming, just as much as it had to be ready for the event itself.

Maya arrived on the roof when the greenhouse was halfway completed. She walked through the frame structure, focusing on the panel angles and irrigation lines.

Then, she looked out over the city from the rooftop, enjoying the full 360-degree view that the watchtower only offered from a single fixed point.

She stood at the roof’s east edge, gazing southeast, and her jaw tightened slightly.

"You can sense it from up here," she said.

He stood beside her, looking southeast, checking the pulse and signature, which remained unchanged. The morning light was dull and grey across the city, and all the dead streets stretched empty in every direction.

"Yes," he said.

"It’s going to come," she said. Not a question.

"Yes," he said again.

She was silent for a moment, gazing at the city, then turned to look at him. Her eyes were direct and clear, exhibiting the focused quality they showed when she’d moved beyond her initial unease and reached a practical understanding.

"Then we need to be ready," she said.

"Working on it," he said.

She looked at the half-built greenhouse behind them, then at the turrets on the wall corners below, and finally at the building beneath her feet, with everything it contained and had been integrated into over thirty-five days.

"It’s a good building," she said quietly.

From up here, he observed it the same way Shin had looked at the wall from the courtyard on the day it was finished, seeing it as a complete structure. He then thought that Maya was right—it’s a good building and will need to be.

"Yeah," he said. "It is."

She glanced at him, a slight movement of her mouth, then returned to adjusting the greenhouse panel angles. Meanwhile, he resumed his place in the build queue. The morning continued steadily, with the city surrounding them in silence and patience. Eight blocks southeast, the signature remained unchanged.

---

Micheal had achieved 80% of tier 3 by the end of the day. Sitting on the floor against the kitchen cabinet, Michael looked at that percentage, then at the remaining items on his list, and finally at his SP balance, reviewing the timeline once more.

Two more days to completion if the pace held.

He looked at the pulse.

The southeast signature had moved again.

This time, it’s not two blocks away, but just one. Now only six blocks instead of eight. He observed the movement and its direction—heading straight west, directly toward the building.

He noted the slow, deliberate, and unhurried pace of the motion and recalled Cole’s comment about it testing the wall, as well as Yuna’s remark about the entity that looked at their window and the calmness behind its eyes.

One block closer. The timeline compressed once more. He paused to reflect and then checked the build queue, examining what remained and considering what could be accomplished in a day instead of two. He evaluated the cost of speeding up the process and whether it was within his means.

He could afford it.

He couldn’t afford not to.

He pulled up the squad system to update the build assignments for tomorrow, then checked the Resonance Shield notification in the Bond Store for Sera.

His gaze then shifted to the other bond store items that had been quietly unlocking over the past week, as bonds deepened through shared work, danger, quiet evenings, training sessions, early-morning food, clipboard inventories, and floor plans sketched on found paper.

[Skill Echo — Available: Sera. 8 BP. Permanently copy one of Sera’s learned survival skills.]

He looked at that one for a long moment.

Then he mentally reviewed his footwork, recalling how Sera described it as less bad at the end of the first training session. He thought about six blocks and a timeline that kept shortening, focusing on the specific gap between being merely adequate and truly good at something.

He activated it.

[Skill Echo — Sera. Select skill to copy.]

He saw the options appear, examined them, and chose the one most relevant to what was ahead.

He sensed a subtle but genuine shift into his muscle memory—something that wouldn’t be noticeable until he needed it but could make a difference at the right moment.

He shut the store and checked the pulse again. Six blocks. "Okay," he muttered softly to himself, the same way he had on Day Eighteen, sitting on his kitchen floor with a can of beans and an unexpected system, while the dead city lay outside.

Then he’d had nothing.

Now he had a wall and turrets and nineteen people and a building that was eighty percent through Tier 3 and a greenhouse on the roof and a clinic and a training room and five women who had each become someone worth protecting in a way that had snuck up on him while he was busy building things.

And a skill he had just learned from the top fighter in the building.

He opened the Blueprint Interface and started working on designing a system where one day could accomplish the task of two.

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